NASA has deployed the majestic “ghostly cosmic hand” 16,000 light-years from Earth

NASA has released an unusual image of stellar debris 16,000 light-years from Earth that can be described as a “ghostly cosmic hand.” This image comes from the debris of a giant star that exhausted its nuclear fuel about 1,500 years ago and became a dense, rotating neutron star with strong magnetic fields, known as a pulsar.

By focusing two space-based X-ray telescopes a pot In this neutron star and the magnetic fields surrounding it, the agency’s astronomers can learn more about how the pulsar injects particles into space and shapes the surrounding environment. The pulsar is responsible for creating the hand-shaped structure that appears in the X-ray data, and this design is known as “Pulsating wind nebula“.

The nebula in this neutron star is called… Not 15-52, is what constitutes the “hand”. In the image provided by the space agency, the pressure appears as the “palm” of the hand, with five “fingers” extended outward. Telescope X-ray polarization detector imaging NASA reported studying the nebula for about 17 days, the longest period it has remained focused on an object since its launch in December 2021. CBS..

“The IXPE data provides us with the first map of the magnetic field in hand,” he said. Roger Romanstudy leader from Stanford University in California.

“The charged particles that produce the The magnetism is straight and very uniform.”

The researchers add that particles in the turbulent areas of the nebula receive an “energy pulse,” directing them toward the “wrist, fingers, and thumb” parts of the nebula. “We have discovered the life history of ultra-energy matter and antimatter particles around the pulsar,” he says. Niccolò di Lalla, co-author of the study, also from Stanford University. “This teaches us how pulsars can act as particle accelerators,” the scientist added.

The photo of the “ghostly cosmic hand” was published a few days after NASA announced this Juno mission He spotted an annoying face in Jupiter. For his part, he said: NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory have already discovered Not 15-52 In 2001, a similar formation of the hand was also identified daily Mail.